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I am a PS3 owner and someday hope to be a PS4 owner, yet I am not at all dissatisfied with my choice to delay purchase, solely based on the current PS4 library. When I transitioned from a Playstation 1 to a Playstation 2, I was pleasantly surprised that I could for the most part rid myself of my PS1...

The Call of Duty franchise has evolved into a major gaming franchise since it’s humble beginnings in its PC days. The first Call of Duty was a WWII shooter that allowed gamers to experience a glimpse of major battles in the European Theater with a great campaign and fun multiplayer. After Call of Duty 3 the gaming world began to grow tiresome of the WWII setting and it was time for the COD series to revolutionize and change, and that it did with Call of Duty Modern Warfare. COD4 created a high milestone with an amazing campaign with a good storyline, fun and improved COD mechanics, great graphics and a multiplayer setting that was so successful there are still many people playing COD4 to this day. Customization, killstreaks and challenges influence gamers to spend hours and hours of potentially productive time to waste away in an imaginary conflict; COD4 was a big deal and changed the gaming industry (which is reasonable because it was good). It improved and changed the series was still staying the same, revolutionizing it’s look, Modern Warfare 2 took what made the first good and improved on it in various ways. It didn’t reinvent the wheel but it had nice enough add-ons to make it worthwhile. Those complements cannot be said about the (hopefully) final installment in the Modern Warfare series.

I’ve been a fan of the COD series since Call of Duty 1, I’ve played every game and enjoyed most of them, and although COD4 was successful and amazing it has an effect of over saturation. By now I’ve grown tired of the series, it’s unfortunately become an over glorified multiplayer game and has lost any prestige that the series used to have but I still gave this game a chance because I wanted to see where the story went and if the game could somehow “wow me” once more. The storyline is typical MW, a mixture of gunfire and explosions that could make Michael Bay green with envy, fill with linear play and scripted events you’re pushed from point A to point B and told to shoot anything that doesn’t look like you. Harsh to say I know, but it the game’s defense that has been the system of FPS since the beginning.

Though in some levels I found a variety in the way I could engage the enemy for example instead of being forced to attack the ground forces, if I nosed around you could find multiple vantage points to fight from like upper/lower levels or pathways that lead to flanking positions. It’s not a transformation on the system but it was refreshing to at least feel like I could choose how I fight, there are some moments that’ll make your jaw drop just like the previous CODs but honestly it wasn’t enough to make the campaign memorable. I’ve beaten MW 1 & 2 and Black Ops on veteran because after playing the campaign I enjoyed it enough to endure the frustration that is veteran difficulty, but MW 3’s campaign wasn’t enough to be found as replayable. It wasn’t bad and it did have good moments but overall the campaign didn’t have its typical spectacular feel and left me a little disappointed. In fact the in between cutscenes didn’t even feel like it was trying to tell a story, it felt like the developers were telling me “F*** you! Just skip this and play our damn game”. A lot of the levels use methods and moments that were used in the previous ones but weren’t done good enough to feel memorable like in the previous games. In jump to so many difference characters and locations it is hard to build a connection or at least a connection that was build with Price and Soap. But at least the story ended, the ending felt like it was tackled it, as if they got tired of staying at the office till 2am so they just drew out of a hat and reached a conclusion but the important thing is that it reached a conclusion.

Spec Ops mode makes a return and that good because this is where the game shines; the missions are well made and good enough to be replayable and worthwhile to attack on the tougher difficulties. They’re thought out and honestly I had more fun playing each Spec Ops level than I did playing the campaign. The new survival mode is a great addition, now it’s no zombies, horde or firefight but the mode definitely doesn’t feel thrown in or rushed. It’s a good mode that can be played alone and enjoyed but at the same time with others can require strategy and skill to get to the higher levels. Honestly if I bought the game my money’s worth would almost be made in the Spec Ops missions and survival.

Finally the multiplayer, the same multiplayer I’ve already poured hours into with MW, MW 2 and Black Ops there is too little amount of improvement or reasoning that would of brought me to want to spend more time fragging and dying. Now that doesn’t mean there aren’t new features, the game changes its customization system and killstreak mechanics, the new killstreak system tries to change the player’s motives to work more towards winning the game and playing objectively instead of working on their individual K/D ratios. The changes are nice and can custom to different playing styles, which is nice because you feel like you’re rewarded for how you play and your skill. You have to work for the unlocks you want giving you inspiration to work for what you want unlike Black Ops that like you have the whole world of Oz if you had the money. Different perks that give a new twist to play but an amount of the perks just feel useless or don’t seem appealing enough to use. The new game modes are an interesting twist but nothing revolutionary, well maybe kill confirmed but nothing major. Overall it just feels like too much of the same thing that I’ve played too much of already, not enough new to pull and keep me in, if you haven’t overdone the multiplayer then there’s a great chance you’ll still enjoy it.

A game whose more appropriate title would be “Been There, Done That 3” the game does suffer from the “if it ain’t broke…” technique a little too much. The game isn’t bad, but it isn’t necessarily good, it’s not the big deal that a majority of the people likes to claim that it is. Honestly at this rate Call of Duty is going to suffer from what happened to Medal of Honor, MoH is to be a huge series but it died off due to over saturation (which hopefully with it’s latest game will make a revival). The series has gotten away with it’s constant releasing for now but it’s only a matter of time before it will fade away. Call of Duty has basically been transformed into the shooting version of Madden; a game released so often with little to no change but will be gobbled up but a general public. With an uninspiring multiplayer and somewhat disappointing campaign the game shines in it’s spec ops and can bring value but honestly in the end I would suggest to divert your resources to higher quality gaming that has been released this year. With the bromance to a end hopefully its repetition will soon end as well, the game had hype of a century but performance that couldn’t match it for years.

+Spec Ops missions/survival mode are fun
+The final chapter of the story…
-…. That is lacking what made the others memorable
-That is practically 4 or 5 hours long
-Been there, done that multiplayer will little improvement
-Feels more like a $60 map pack for multiplayer and spec ops than an actual sequel